Well, my AI sail is almost 7 years old and has already had the Mylar replaced once already. It was a good run but now with the mylar bad again, the seems thread bare and cloth faded with a tear it is time for a new one.

I see at $588 the AI sails are not cheap but hey it needs it. Nice if there was a sale on the sail - Ha!

Does the sail include the battens? Mostly I am concerned on how it gets packed for shipping. I plan on ordering from Backyard boats or Austin kayaks. The last thing I want to see on a new and expensive sail is hard creases in the mylar if it gets folded. Folds in the mylar will mean cracks and the mylar is what breaks first on these sails.

How is the sail packed/shipped? Folded in 1/2 above the mylar down to ~8 feet and rolled up into a hard shipping tube?Will I get better results when I order the sail to have Hobie corp. drop ship it to me direct with instructions/permission from the dealer? If so how to do it and who at Hobie to contact?

My goal is to have a relatively pristine & undamaged sail as a replacement.

BTW it will be a red & gray sail

I just tallied up my parts total so far for the sail, sprockets, fins, cables and a bunch of other stuff and I'm up to $1,037 All worth it to keep me on the water

Will I get better results when I order the sail to have Hobie corp. drop ship it to me direct with instructions/permission from the dealer?

I would think the opposite - buy from the most local dealer and inspect it before accepting the purchase

I did think of that. My local dealer is not so local and one of the managers there has a real bad attitude. Yelled at me because I had to show him how to read the year make/model on a Hobie hull, bad advice ect. Plus I'm trying to save the 7% local sales tax. The local dealer will likely want to charge me shipping anyway and won't have it in stock.

I know Hobie prefers one to deal locally, however that is not always the easy way out.

Mine came in a plain cardboard box, no special packing. Included battens. This was a couple years ago.

Probably the same way every dealer gets them with a new boat, so don't expect different results.

AFAIK, Hobie will not ship direct to you.

When I got my boat the sail also came with battens but was packed inside the hull. The perfect way to keep sail good is ship it inside the boat that it goes with.

The sail you got in a cardboard box was a replacement sail? Nothing wrong with that the sail in a box, it is not a fragile item and I don't mean to sound like it is. Shipped on a Hobie freight truck vs. shipped UPS well that's something else.

It would be great to get battens with a replacement sail.

Hobie has shipped directly to me on several occasions but they were all special circumstances like warranty and things like the new ~2007 AI balanced rudder, new rudder lines ect.

I understand all Hobie dealers are supposed to honor warranties no matter where you bought product. So I guess I could still order sail from Austin Kayaks and if it arrives damaged or mylar all creased bring it to the local dealer under warranty and ask for a replacement.

Will hold off until Matt or some Hobie tech comments on packaging & battens. They must have a safe way to ship replacement sail to a dealer to avoid trashing a $600 item.

Hey Yak ! give me a call and I'll be glad to run down to TackleShack (The best dealer in the country) and pick one up for you and then mail it to you.

I'm heading there anyways this week due to another eventful trip to Egmont key today in the AI. One pedal shaft on my mirage drive snapped completely off. The mirage drive wasn't installed until we got to Egmont and then when we were ready to do some snorkeling I put it in to get to an anchorage and on the first stroke it broke ! Just about the time the wind was dying . Had to do some paddling but fortunately the wind picked up enough to make it back. Another advantage of hakas. I pushed them out to paddle.

Yes well all the newer drives have hollow pedal shafts which may save a little weight but be less durable than the solid crank arms. Salt water gets inside the hollow crank arms and where it pins to the drum is a weak spot. Plus if you have to replace the pedal you must also replace the entire pedal & crank arm assembly at $42 each side. The older solid crank arms have a threaded 9/16" hole for the use of any bicycle pedal like say a sun cruiser which cost about $10 a pair. Solid crank arms cost about $30 each (need a left & a right) but they may be the last arm you will ever need to buy.